Cisco MDS 9000 Series Configuration Guide

Table 8: Advantages of Enhanced Zoning
Enhanced Zoning AdvantagesEnhanced ZoningBasic Zoning
One configuration session for the
entire fabric to ensure consistency
within the fabric.
Performs all configurations within a
single configuration session. When you
begin a session, the switch locks the entire
fabric to implement the change.
Administrators can make simultaneous configuration
changes. Upon activation, one administrator can
overwrite another administrator’s changes.
Reduced payload size as the zone is
referenced. The size is more
pronounced with bigger databases.
References to the zone are used by the
zonesets as required once you define the
zone.
If a zone is part of multiple zonesets, you create an
instance of this zone in each zoneset.
Fabric-wide policy enforcement
reduces troubleshooting time.
Enforces and exchanges the default zone
setting throughout the fabric.
The default zone policy is defined per switch. To
ensure smooth fabric operation, all switches in the
fabric must have the same default zone setting.
Enhanced error reporting eases the
troubleshooting process.
Retrieves the activation results and the
nature of the problem from each remote
switch.
To retrieve the results of the activation on a per
switch basis, the managing switch provides a
combined status about the activation. It does not
identify the failure switch.
Distribution of zone sets without
activation avoids hardware changes
for hard zoning in the switches.
Implements changes to the zoning
database and distributes it without
reactivation.
To distribute the zoning database, you must
reactivate the same zoneset. The reactivation may
affect hardware changes for hard zoning on the local
switch and on remote switches.
Unique vendor type.Provides a vendor ID along with a
vendor-specific type value to uniquely
identify a member type.
The MDS-specific zone member types (IPv4 address,
IPv6 address, symbolic node name, and other types)
may be used by other non-Cisco switches. During a
merge, the MDS-specific types can be misunderstood
by the non-Cisco switches.
The fWWN-based member type is
standardized.
Supports fWWN-based membership in
the standard interop mode (interop mode
1).
The fWWN-based zone membership is only
supported in Cisco interop mode.
Changing from Basic Zoning to Enhanced Zoning
To change to the enhanced zoning mode from the basic mode, follow these steps:
Step 1 Verify that all switches in the fabric are capable of working in the enhanced mode.
If one or more switches are not capable of working in enhanced mode, then your request to move to enhanced mode is
rejected.
Step 2 Set the operation mode to enhanced zoning mode. By doing so, you will automatically start a session, acquire a fabric
wide lock, distribute the active and full zoning database using the enhanced zoning data structures, distribute zoning
policies and then release the lock. All switches in the fabric then move to the enhanced zoning mode.
Cisco MDS 9000 Series Fabric Configuration Guide, Release 8.x
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Configuring and Managing Zones
Changing from Basic Zoning to Enhanced Zoning

Cisco MDS 9000 Series Specifications

General

Category	Switch
Operating System	Cisco NX-OS
Ports	Varies by model
Protocols	Fibre Channel (FC), Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), iSCSI
Redundancy	Redundant supervisors, power supplies, and fans
Management	Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM), CLI, SNMP
Virtualization Support	VSANs (Virtual SANs)
Security Features	Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP)
Hot Swappable Components	power supplies, fans
Power Supply Options	AC and DC options available